Tag: computer

Did You Reboot It?

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I am that guy you call when the computer you work with proves it is smarter than you are. And sometimes, not too often but sometimes, it is smarter than I am, also.

Many people complain and/or joke about the fact that when they call tech support they are first asked, “Did you reboot the system yet?” It is a sort of running gag, but it is also true. The computer performs many, many thousands upon thousands of small, regular computations, and all those bits and bytes floating around in the memory confuse it. Just like we get confused when we are trying to do too many things at once. The reboot turns off all electric power for a second or two, which is enough for the memory to be cleaned out. Sort of an “electronic colanic.”

Humans need to reboot, as well. We call that process “Vacation”, although many come back from vacation more stressed and tired than when they went on it.

Spiritually we need a reboot now and then, as well. I have found myself feeling burned out, too involved in doing “church” things, and then feeling guilty that I haven’t done enough. Help this committee, fix that, be there for meetings, etc. etc.etc.

Now don’t get me wrong- we all must participate in more than just showing up once a week. It is more than just a place to go, it is a place to participate in maintaining. Throughout the Bible we see how the Levites were responsible for the service to the Lord in His house, but everyone helped with the maintenance of the house.

If you feel that you are overwrought with the responsibilities, whether real or imagined, of having to do more for the Rabbi, Pastor, Priest, whomever, then you need to reboot. Even if you are the Rabbi, Pastor, Priest or that whomever guy I keep talking about.  Rebooting is necessary to maintain a well managed and efficient system.

So, nu? How do I reboot my spirit? By doing something different. Go on a retreat, leave the job to someone else for a week or two, read the Bible in total solitude, go for a walk in the woods, travel to Bryce Canyon and on a clear night observe all the stars in the heavens. That’s a humbling experience, especially when one knows the Lord and can really appreciate His grandeur and wonder.

My Pastor has asked me to fill in once in a while to give the message, as well as with other people whom God has given teaching skills and who show spiritual maturity (that’s the only kind of maturity I have.) This is not just so he can help develop us, but so that he can take a break now and then. He’s a smart guy, and he recognizes that even the ‘Levite’ among us needs to have a rest, to reboot not just spiritually but physically, too. King David set specific times for the Levites to serve, giving time on and time off. He was somewhat ahead of his time, when you think about it: back then you worked all the time. The only rest was Shabbat. David gave the Levites a “working week”, if you will, although it was more than a week at a time. But then, again, they had really long weekends 🙂

If you feel tired of doing whatever you are doing, then give it a rest. Have someone else take over for a bit, let someone else lead the service, teach the Bible class, clean the floors. Don’t be so selfish- there is nothing more rewarding than serving the Lord, so let someone else enjoy the blessing now and then!

Reboot your body, reboot your emotions, reboot your Spirit.

As my people like to say, “Try it! You’ll like it!”

Are you defragging your spiritual hard drive?

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I am that guy you call when you don’t know why your computer isn’t doing what you expect it to do. One of my personal peeves is that people work with their computers all day, and it’s almost impossible to find a job, other than manual labor, that doesn’t require you to have a modicum of skills when operating a computer. Yet, all I hear all day long is, “I just don’t know anything about computers.”

You know to check the oil, water and tire pressure in your car, you know to oil the iron cooking pan, to change the filters in your air conditioning system (you should know these things, you know!), but people don’t know how to care for their computers! Think about it: you can take a bus to work if you don’t care for your car and if your pots and pans are rusty and filthy you can order food in, but if your computer isn’t working you can’t do your job. And what happens to people who don’t do their jobs? Do you think it’s important to know enough to (at least) maintain the computer in fairly good working order?

One of the things that is important to keeping the computer running well (not so much with Windows 7 and newer operating systems) is defragging the hard drive. All this is, essentially, is removing all the space between the bits of data (all zero’s and one’s) so that all the little bits line up neatly. This saves space and makes searching for the data faster.

So, nu? What’s any of this got to do with my spiritual life?

We hear so much stuff every day; there is so much information in the world, and so much of it is so easily absorbed through web sites, ebooks, radio, cable TV news that is 24/7. Yet, out of all this information, there is so very little of it which you can trust. We get all types of fertilizer coming into our brains, and to sort it all out is nearly impossible. We hear televangelists telling us to touch the screen so they can heal us, our own Rabbi’s, Pastors, Ministers and Priests telling us what we should believe because this is what our religion teaches us, and then we have the everyday people, telling us that these laws were for health reasons, those don’t count because the world is changed (although they forget that God doesn’t change), and the worst part is the Discovery Channel. Although Discovery, History and TLC are some of my favorite channels, I never watch anything they do regarding the Bible or religious history. That’s because they are TV, the air waves are controlled by the Enemy (he is called the Prince of the Air, remember?) and their point, always, is to make God seems like a fantasy, explaining away His wonderful works and interventions and making science the real cause for celebrity.

All of these bits and bytes of data going into our brains, every day. And we can’t really stop it, unless we wear blindfolds and stuff our ears with wax. That would give us some peace, but it makes getting anything done really, really hard to do.

That’s why we need to defrag our spiritual hard drive. We need to clean out and delete the stuff that is wasteful, not-edifying and confusing. Then, after a good clean up of the temp files and deleted items folder, we need to re-arrange the data that we want to keep. We do this by getting back to basics (hmmmm…nice title for a book- check out the one I wrote) and re-establishing our relationship with God by simply sitting, in a quiet place, turning off all the data-streaming drek in the area, and letting God come in and clean up our spiritual hard drive. Let the Ruach take over- you can pray, think of heaven, concentrate on your favorite scripture, meditate on His word (King David did that often) or (one of my favorites) create a list of all the things you are grateful to God for giving you. Start with your birth and work your way forward.

We need to keep it simple (the KISS Rule) when we worship. No fancy-schmancy prayers; get real, people- we don’t live in the 17th Century so don’t pray like you are reading from the Kings James Bible. How can you be pouring your heart out to the Lord when you need to concentrate on getting all the fancy words right? God sees the heart, He knows what we want and (thank God) He gives us what we need, so just let Him do what He does best. Let His shalom fill your soul.

Be careful, also, what you download. The best way to keep a computer running well is to “feed” it correctly- no viruses, no malware, be careful what you buy, and watch where you “surf.” Always have a good anti-virus running that keeps up to date. This translates, spiritually, into reading the Bible every day. The best antivirus, in this case ‘anti-Satan software’, is the Word of God.  Read it every day to keep your spiritual hard-drive clean. Be careful of what you download means when you are watching the TV specials or reading extra-Biblical books and magazines about where the Ark is, who Jesus really was, and all the other apparently useful shows to help us understand the truth about God and the Bible, be very cautious and wary. Never take what they say as valid or truthful, and check it out against the Bible. If there is archaeological proof, or at least evidence, of a biblical event, that is fine, but listen carefully. I have rarely gotten more than 10 minutes into one of these shows before I start to hear the message between the lines of script. That message is (almost) always that there is some physiological reason for the event, that science can explain it and their “experts” are almost always agnostic in their approach. The one or two “religious” people that will give glory to God are made to seem like fools. By the end of the show miracles and Glory to God are reduced to seismic events and explainable anomalies.

Science thinks that because it can explain something and understand how it happens that means God didn’t have anything to do with it. That’s something we have to overcome- the thinking that says if it can be explained it isn’t a miracle or a divine intervention. God created everything, including science. So why can’t He use what He created to intervene? How many cancer patients die after undergoing every known treatment type? Yet, others go into remission and the cancer never returns. They’re both humans, they’re both treated the same way, yet it works in one and not in the other. And no one can explain that, but no one sees the cure as a miracle. It’s science, it’s modern medicine, it’s explainable so it can’t be divine. Oy!

There is so much garbage, so many bits and bytes of data that we take in, without even knowing it is happening, and we need to defrag ourselves daily. Meditate, read the Word (best bet for success) and pray to God. Pray simply, pray honestly, and don’t try to be different than who you are when you pray. Just pray from your heart, do it without interruption, and get all those little zeros and ones in your spirit back in alignment.

Computers are binomial- it all boils down to a zero or a one. God is also binomial: it’s His way or the hell-way. Don’t let your spiritual hard drive become corrupted with the viruses and malware of the world; keep it defragged through prayer and keep it clean with a daily install and upgrade of God’s word. It’s the best anti-Satan software in the universe.